Pho Saigon (Tsawwassen)

Shopping during Christmas time (yes, this was awhile ago) can often be an exercise in torture and self-punishment.  Hence, going to places such as Metrotown and Guildford Town Centre is the equivalent of navigating Richmond during rush hour.  Even the smaller malls aren't immune as finding a parking spot requires either overly aggressive behaviour or stalking 101.  However, there is one mall that is generally not busy and finding parking near the entrances a breeze.  Yes, you guessed it, the place is Tsawwessen Mills.  We went all the way out there to shop and enjoy the relative tranquility.  After that, we hopped on over to nearby Pho Saigon for some eats.

Just like the location in Ladner, the place is pretty humble, but decorated with customer-made scribbles on the walls.  We started things off with the Banh Ba Lot that was quite good.  It had the requisite chewy, sticky and bouncy tapioca texture while stuffed with pork, mushroom and shrimp.  Loved the dipping it into the tangy chili fish sauce.  For myself, I had the Pho Dac Biet and it was a fair portion.  I thought the soup was a little light and a touch muddled.  However, it was still relatively flavourful and pleasant.  I found the noodles to be al dente while the meats were tender.  

For Viv, she had Combo A consisting of salad roll, spring roll (made with rice paper) and chicken brochette with rice.  As mentioned, the spring roll was legit being crispy while a touch greasy.  The salad roll was haphazardly constructed, but was solid nonetheless.  A little dry, the chicken skewer could've used a bit more seasoning.  My son went for his usual Lemongrass Chicken with rice.  We added an egg to the dish and it came out fully cooked.  Totally disappointing because the whole point is to have a runny egg with the rice.  The chicken was a bit similar to the skewer being a touch dry and lacking enough impact.

My daughter didn't go overboard this time and went small with a Kid's Pho Ga.  This was quite a large portion of chewy noodles and mild-tasting chicken broth.  The pieces of chicken were on the drier side, but were still okay.  In the end, that is all we were looking for anyways - decent eats.  Pho Saigon was more or less that, but nothing amazing.  I guess with the lack of competition in Tsawwassen, they won't need to be anything more than decent.

The Good:
- Decent (LOL)
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- Better elsewhere, but not in Tsawwassen
- Service was really lacking

Bistro Peekaboo

Some parts of the lower mainland get no attention in culinary terms.  Generally, it would be the 'burbs and specifically, the little enclaves such as Tsawwassen.  With such a relatively isolated community (separated from everywhere else by a bunch of farms), the restaurants  mainly serve the locals. But for me, that just means I need to make the effort to go out there.  And that reason this time was to meet up with Bubbly, who calls Tsawwassen her home. We met up at a lil' place called Bistro Peekaboo.

Normally, I do not take pictures of Miso Soup since it is much like complimentary bread - it's only there by default.  However, I quite enjoyed this one because it wasn't super salty.  Rather, there was a depth and richness to it which was further enhanced by seaweed and purposeful cubes of tofu.  Next, I got the Sashimi portion of my bento box.  The slices of tuna and salmon were of smaller in size, but not lacking in quality.  There was a fresh sheen and fresh smell (as much as frozen can get).  Textures were on point as well as the natural sweetness.

Onto the box itself, there was the usual sides in addition to Tempura, Chicken Katsu and California Roll.  I found the tempura to be crispy and light with a touch of grease.  The ebi was buttery with some snap.  As for the katsu, it was crunchy while still moist inside.  The light drizzle of sauce ensured it stayed crispy and being light in flavour.  The California roll was decent with chewy, sticky rice.  It was rather bland though.  Bubbly had a similar meal except with Beef Teriyaki.  This was also well-executed with moist and tender beef with just enough sauce.  Although the prices are on the higher side, it was somewhat of a surprise that I would find a Japanese-run restaurant (preparing good eats) tucked away in one of the many strip malls in Tsawwassen.

The Good:
- Carefully prepared eats
- Really friendly people

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Hard to find

JDR's Cafe

Alright.  What if I told you about a restaurant where you can buy lottery tickets, have a donut and a salad roll whilst drinking bubble tea.  And what if this restaurant is located in Tsawwassen?  Yes, all of this can be had at JDR's Cafe and no, this is not a joke.  I'm not even sure how to categorize this place.  But Bubbly convinced me to pay it a visit and ironically, to give their bubble teas a go.

Well, to be completely frank, I really shouldn't have ordered any bubble teas.  I ended up with a Strawberry Slush with pearls and a Mango Slush with coconut jelly.  One sip of the strawberry and whoomp there it is...  instant high blood sugar.  Insulin anyone?  It tasted like liquid candy much like the strawberry on a Pocky stick.  The Mango didn't fare any better resembling a more potent version of instant mango pudding.  Far too sweet and far too artificial tasting.  It makes Bubble World taste like the best stuff on Earth in comparison.

Fortunately, I ordered a Viet Chicken Sub to go for kicks and it was actually pretty good despite my reservations (and the fail of the bubble teas).  The bread was toasted nice and crisp while the grilled chicken was moist and flavourful.  Add in some pickled daikon and carrots (which were a touch too sweet), mayo, jalapeno and cilantro, it was a flavourful sandwich.  I was planning on going back to try their breakfast, but really, that wouldn't have been interesting anyways.  Let's just say I won't be returning anytime soon for the bubble tea...

The Good:
- Cheap
- Friendly people
- An eclectic mix of stuff

The Bad:
- If you consider sugar and food colouring a tasting drink

Ossie's Deli & Meats

Ah Pt. Roberts, how I love thee.  A hacked-off portion of the Tsawwassen peninsula belonging to the USA which serves as a great place to ship things and to get gas.  Armed with my Nexus and reciepts (don't forget these!), I made my way over to pick up my latest purchases.  But wait, I couldn't do that without making a pitstop at Chill and Bubbly's place first.  Why?  Well, let's just say if I didn't drop off my photo gear, laptop and iPad, I would have a lot of explaining to do if I was searched.

As I was leaving, I mentioned to Bubbly that I was heading over to Ossie's Deli (on a recommendation from a reader) for some lunch.  She left Chill with the kids to join me for some sandwiches (sounds familiar...).  Anyways, I decided to have something different and went for their Schnitzel Oscar "Burger" with shrimp, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and cheese. For a sandwich consisting of premade main ingredients, it was pretty enjoyable.  The pounded pork schnitzel was a bit dry (but not tough) and naturally lacking a bit in crispiness while the shrimp were typical.  However, combined together on a soft, yet not dense bun, it was solid sandwich considering the venue and price point ($6.75).  On the side, I had a bowl of Split Pea Soup ($4.25) which was pleasingly hot (temperature-wise).  It was smooth with little bits of onion, peas, ham and carrots.  It was very mild in flavour where I could taste some of the individual components.

Bubbly had what she usually orders at Ossie's being the Chicken Burger.  It was constructed of 2 breaded chicken breasts with melted cheddar and veggies.  Again, for premade ingredients, the chicken was more than acceptable and not dry.  I decided to grab one more item to go being the Rueben. It was made with the usual ingredients including corned beef, sauerkraut and mustard.  Again, nothing life-changing, but solid nonetheless with crunchy bread, plenty of Dijon and a decent amount of ingredients.  As you can clearly ascertain, Ossie's is a humble little deli in Tsawwassen.  They serve up honest food for a reasonable price.  Works for me.

The Good:
- Honest people
- Honest food

The Bad:
- It's good, but won't light your world on fire (but it wasn't meant to)
- Can get rather busy, so you'll have to be patient

Mario's Kitchen

Ah. the water slide, a current of rushing water underneath your posterior; more fun than you can ever have with a bidet. Today, the whole family made the trek out to Splashdown Park out in Tsawwassen. My son seemed very excited to go; but after a few assisted runs down the kiddie slides, he decided it was time to go home. No way buddy, we didn't pay $15 for you to half-heartedly go down a few slides and call it a day. So we gave him his Nintendo DS and we ended up going on some runs. I've never been a big fan of water slides; but the inner tube river run was very fun. Too bad I accidentally elbowed Chill M's daughter in the head while going down that run. She didn't seem a bit worse for wear. Viv went down the blue slides and she said that they were slow and in fact she stopped dead in her tracks a few times. Gee, doesn't sound like that much fun. I could have been playing hockey instead since I was missing it for the water slides. No matter, family time is more important.

Since we don't make it out to Tsawwassen very often, I suggested we grab some late lunch at a favourite of mine - Mario's Kitchen. Luckily for us, we arrived well past lunch hour and snagged the only table that could accommodate 4 adults and 5 kids. Suffice to say, the restaurant is very kid friendly; from the kid's menu and crayons to the Popsicles or giant cookie for dessert. Once again, Bubbly M hijacked my camera and I am obliged to credit her with some of the photos. The kiddies ended up ordering the usual, pizza and chicken strips. Bubbly M ordered the Tuscan Linguine and it was pretty good. I've had the pasta here in the past and although it isn't spectacular, it's more than acceptable. Her pasta was al dente and the sauce was seasoned adequately. I had originally ordered the BBQ Glazed Half-Chicken; but what I really ended up with was BBQ Glazed Chicken Breasts. I really had no problem with it since the chicken was cooked perfectly tender and the sauce was quite good. However, I would've appreciated that they had asked me beforehand. The rice on the side was terrible, undercooked and bland. Viv and Chill M had the Cajun Chicken Cheddar Sandwich. Not much to say about a sandwich, but apparently the chicken was tender and well seasoned.

Since there were 5 kids, it took awhile to get out of the restaurant. Finally we made it outside and I had to open my big mouth and compliment Bubbly M's new Pumas. She went ahead and told Viv to join her at the shoe store which was having a sale. Great, now we have to wait for 2 women shoe shopping. What did I do to deserve this? Oh right, I complimented someone on their new shoes... Luckily it didn't take too long and we were on our way. Since we were sort of in the neighbourhood, I dropped by Danny's Market for another Screamer. At least the visit to Splashdown was not all for naught.

The Good:
- Reasonably priced
- Good portions
- Decent food

The Bad:
- Food came out a bit slow (maybe because we arrived well past lunch?)